"OGO" 2003 Obituary

O'GORMAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-01-02 published
Lee RYAN
By Tim RYANThursday,January 2, 2003, Page A18
Poet, television producer, conservationist. Born September 13,
1939, in Toronto. Died December 17 in Boise, Idaho, of Alzheimer's
disease, aged 63.
Lee RYAN survived a crash-landing in the Namib Desert of Africa
17 years ago, but like more than four million others in North
America, she couldn't survive the devastating effects of Alzheimer's
disease. The mother of four -- an accomplished poet, television
producer and African wildlife conservationist -- died 12 years
after being diagnosed as an "early onset" victim of the disease
that robs one's identity as it kills brain cells, slowly diminishing
mind and body.
Lee was born Mary Leona
MUIR in Toronto, daughter of Scottish/Irish
immigrant parents. Her father Alex was yardmaster of the Canadian
NationalRailway terminal in Toronto. Her mother, Mina
O'GORMAN,
a native of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, raised Leona and
three siblings; sister Sandy, brothers Michael and Gerard, all
of whom still live in Canada.
Lee was educated at Loretto Abbey and obtained her Registered
Nurse degree at St. Michael's Hospital College of Nursing in
Toronto before marrying sportscaster Tim
RYAN in 1961. They moved
with children Kimberley, Kevin and Jay to Oakland, Calif., in
1967 as Mr.
RYAN advanced his career in the U.S. Following the
birth of their fourth child, Brendan, the family moved to Larchmont,
New York, where they lived for the next 21 years.
While Mr. RYAN became a nationally known announcer with National
Broadcasting Company, Columbia Broadcasting System and Fox before
rejoining National Broadcasting Company Sports in 1998, Lee began
her own television career, producing programs for the local cable
access station in Westchester County. She became an accomplished
fencer and tennis player and began to dabble in writing (her
whimsical story about the family cat was published in the New
York Times features section). But her life changed dramatically
when she and Tim became trustees of the Save African Endangered
Wildlife Foundation.
Through the 1980s, the
RYANs joined a small group of New Yorkers
assisting in the effort to save the black rhino, heavily poached
in southern Africa. They spent one month a year working with
researchers, wildlife experts and parks people in Zimbabwe, Zambia
and Namibia.
Lee proved to be an intrepid safari traveller, confronting lions,
elephants and Cape buffalo with a brave insouciance, armed only
with a camera. Her love and respect for the animals and the environment
inspired several of her poems, many of which are in a private
publication The Gift of Lee.
But her most frightening African incident was with an airplane,
not an animal. In 1985, Lee, Tim and three colleagues from the
Foundation were flying by private aircraft from Johannesburg
to a tiny camp in the desert of Namibia to meet with a rhino
researcher. They ran out of daylight and the pilot was forced
to land on the desert floor, miles short of the destination,
on rocky terrain. The nose wheel of the six-passenger Cessna
struck a rock and it nearly rolled over as it ground to a halt
with another wheel collapsing and one wing digging into the ground.
The passengers escaped unhurt, but had to spend a night and day
in the barren desert before finally making radio contact with
a commercial airliner and effecting a rescue by police from a
remote tin mine miles away.
The RYANs continued their travels to Africa for five more years,
until Alzheimer's changed their lives forever. With the children
off on their own, they moved to Sun Valley, Idaho, in 1991.
Three years later, Lee required nursing home care. Her final
resting place, the Boise Samaritan Village, was a long away from
her beloved Africa. She died peacefully, her husband at her side.
Tim RYAN was Lee
RYAN's husband.

O'GORMAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-12 published
Died This Day -- 13 school canoeists, 1978
Thursday, June 12, 2003 - Page R9
Adventure outing by Saint John's School, Claremont, Ontario, struck
by high winds on Lake Temiskaming, single capsize caused panic
and the upset of other canoes, led to deaths of teacher Mark
DEANNY and boys
Todd MICHELL,
Barry NELSON,
Jody O'GORMAN,
Timothy PRYCE,
David GREANEY,
Andy HERMAN,
Simon CROFT,
Tim HOPKINS,
Tom KENNY,
Scott BINDON,
Kevin BLACK,
Fraser BOURCHIER
Autopsies showed all drowned but that some had been in water 12 hours before death occurred.